Smart Pricing - Weekends and Holidays

[Chris37]

I want to set a minimum (smart) price for weekends, and maybe holidays.

But this can't be done I don't think.

Any ideas?

I just got booked for three days between Christmas and NYE, at my 'regular' rates.

This was despite having set prices explicitly to be around double the normal rate.

Seems Smart Pricing has taken over my manual price edits for these dates.

Also, I am in a holiday area, and often get booked out on weekends. Smart Pricing seems too low for weekends.

I like Smart Pricing, but wish I could set a min WEEKEND rate, or set a weekend/holiday loading percentage.

So if a weekend, the Smart Price should be set 20% higher than usual - for example.

Technically Smart Pricing should figure it out - but I don't know how to 'train' it what I need, or to workaround the problem.

The only solution seems to be set Smart Pricing, then over-ride all the weekends with a higher manual price. Sigh.

Is there a better solution?

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Smart Pricing works for 4 months from today’s date. Beyond 4 months from now, guests will see your base price or the custom prices you’ve set.  That means if someone booked for after December 13 (which is how far it's pricing today) they were given the charge amount you set for your listing.  

Smart Pricing takes into account weekend pricing already. However, if you want to rent for more than they are suggesting, you have to go into the weekend where you want to charge more and manually override the price and turn off Smart Pricing for those dates.  I have done that for Graduation, Homecoming and for Festival weekends in my area that are outside the 4-month period and those prices have remained in effect until I've manually gone back in and overridden to turn Smart Pricing back on.  

If you think Smart Pricing is too low, raise the Minimum Price in the Pricing Options to the minimum you are willing to accept at any time. It won't go below that since that is the contractural price you have set with Airbnb.  They cannot lower your price!  I have NEVER seen my prices go below that line and, as a matter of fact, have seen that Smart Pricing often nets me more money every month since they see all the inquiries in the area and up the prices everywhere when it starts getting busy.  

Hopefully that helps.  

[Marcus33]

"Smart Pricing takes into account weekend pricing already". 

How so?  ABNB site explicitly states weekend pricing doesnt apply if Smart Pricing is turned ON.  I have found this to be the case.  Your experience is different?  Please explain.

I had started hosting with SP ON, but looking at the SP pattern, I see absolutely no relevance to my area (Perth, Australia), with pricing increasing into June to August, an obviously northern hemisphere-centric pricing policy! 

ABNB want to maximise customers, thats how they make their money.  While hosts typically want to do the same, many dont want to do it at any price.  While its true the SP will never be set below your minimum, I have seen SP set to very low in my area even though occupancy rates are high (by looking at peeer's calendars).  So, I turned SP OFF.

[Thomas972]

"They cannot lower you price!"?  I disagree.  I just got booked for 4 nights at $10 per night less than my set price. Smart pricing was turned off for those nights and the space booked at a discounted rate over a holday.  I think this is a problem and am trying to get to the bottom of it since "help" is not responding to this one. 

[Leah181]

Thomas, do you have a 10% discount available if guests choose "non-refundable" booking?  I have that set and was wondering why I got some bookings for lower than my smart pricing min.  It was exactly 10%.  Whoops on my part.  I just now increased my minimum smart pricing by $10.

[Simon465]

Smart weekend pricing doesnt exist because Airbnb does not want it to.

Airbnb push smart-pricing as a means of lowering nightly rates to drive business upwards. They certainly dont care about maximising your income. Its purely to increase bookings, and their revenue.

Anyone can see that a 'weekend smart-pricing' system would benefit hosts. It doesn't benefit Airbnb. I would advise all to turn off smart pricing and set your weekday and weekend minimum with a figure you're comfortable with.

Not-so-Pro Tip! Register with any of the concert/ticket companies (Ticketmaster is useful) and you'll receive an effective heads-up for events in your area which might drive up demand.

Classic example is "Parklife" weekend in Manchester. Knowing when the larger conferences are on will also help. It costs you a little more time, but is much more rewarding that Smart pricing trying to give your property away on a Saturday night for £66!

[Thomas972]

I was unhappy to see my holiday rate had been lowered for a booking even though I had smart pricing turned off for those dates. Does it still override my prices if I have it turned off for specific dates or do I have to turn it off completely? Or is there something else completely going on here?